ABSTRACT
The Flightdeck and Air Traffic Control Collaboration Evaluation (FACE) project, funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), ran from November 2002 until January 2006. Pilots have access to flightdeck technology and Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) have access to air traffic control (ATC) technology, which is communicated between each party via radiotelephony (R/T) communications. Information from flightdeck technology such as the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) would be directly available to ATCO and this may be effective in increasing their situation awareness. Datalink offers an alternative communication medium and so reduces the congestion of the current R/T system. Datalink has the potential to reduce the amount of information available to flight crews, often relayed via non verbal cues in verbal communication. Freeflight is an American concept; put forward by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). The concept of freeflight involves the transfer of responsibility from the ATCO to the pilot for determining flight paths of an aircraft.
